Four Words
by regalshipper
Summary: After sending her son over the town line with Emma, Regina realizes something she wish she knew a long time ago. And now it is too late to say it. After waiting a long year, Regina finds out the pair in New York to finish what she wish she could have started. AU Swan Queen
1. Behind the door

She looked over the town line over the haze of purple smoke, when she realized something she wished she knew a long time ago. The tires of her hideous yellow car rolled over the orange line as she reached out her arm to make them stop. To make them wait. But it was too late. They were gone. She was gone. And her last testament to this world was four words;

"I love you Emma."

And with that, the woman she now realized she loved forgot she ever existed, washed away in purple smoke.

* * *

_One year Later_

_..._

She pounded her fist on the door, tears forming in her eyes as she hopelessly continued knocking. She had been there for an entire minute and no one had answered the door. What if they weren't here? What if she had gone to the wrong address?

"What is the point..." she mumbled under her breath tucking a piece of hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her right ear. "They won't remember me and there is no way in hell I can convince her to come back." She wiped a single tear away and began to walk away when the door flung open.

She swung around on her heels causing her short hair to flip over her shoulder. Those green eyes. Golden blond hair. She couldn't believe it. After an entire year of waiting, here she was. "Emma!" She said as she fell forward giving the younger woman a hug.

"Do I know you?" she asked trying to remove the strange woman from her body.

Regina removed her arms and stood proudly with a big grin. "Yes, well you did know me. It has been some time since we have crossed paths, but I know you will remember me soon."

She had played this moment out in her head may times over, but it was still more different than she had expected, because when she wove her fingers through her long blond hair and placed her lips upon hers, she expected pure bliss not to be thrown against the concrete hallway. She felt as if the air had completely been knocked out of her as she fell against the wall.

"Get away from my house!" The blond yelled re-entering her apartment and slamming the door shut.

Regina sat still in a heap on the floor, unmoving. Pathetically she began to cry silently. True loves kiss was meant to break any curse. And Emma still could no longer remember her, thus her love was never true. She heard the faint voice of her son from the other side of the door. "Who was that?"

"It was nobody."

Something skidded across the floor making a squeaking sound. "Hey mom?" Henry's voice spoke again.

"What!"

"Where you wearing lipstick earlier?" He asked curiously.

"Ummm... of course kid! Go get your books, the bus is coming soon."

Regina picked herself up of the ground and reached into her pocket book's pocket and pulled out a large wrapped package and put next to the door where Henry could find it when he came home from school. She attached a tag to the package where in fancy script she had written out; 'Even the possibility of a happy ending is possible. Thank you for believing in me, Henry- RM'

Looking back at the door, she felt accomplished in the life she was able to give them with out either knowing of it. She felt a pride, yet still the bitter ting of being along still lingered in her heart. "You will remember me one day." she whispered as she walked out.

* * *

The bus drops Henry Swan at the front door the the apartment building where he lives at exactly 2:49 every week day. He opens the gate with his code and runs up the four flights of stairs to get to his home at 2:52. He usually opens the door and takes off his shoes, but instead he found something different. A package wrapped in brown paper sat next to the door. He picked it up carefully and scanned the note on it.

RM?

Who is RM?

He took of the tag and slid it into his back pocket behind his cell phone and tore the package open. Out from underneath the paper he saw in golden lettering the words 'Once Upon a Time' engraved into the cover.

Who would give him children's stories? Not like he was little anymore. He was almost thirteen, far too old to be interested in children's fairy tales, but something made him decide to flip oven the cover to a picture of a woman holding a baby in her arms with a big smile on her face. The baby was wrapped in a blanket, where he could clearly see the name 'Emma' in purple lettering.

Mom?

He looked both ways to see if his mother was anywhere in sights. Seeing her not there, he quickly made his way inside of the house and dashed into his room hiding the book under his bed.

* * *

_It was cold as he felt the wind blow through his hair. He was perched on top of some play set in the shape of a castle where he overlooked the ocean. "Henry!" a sweet voice called from bellow. __He turned around to see a woman with short black hair wearing a black suit jacket and skirt with a red blouse held out her hand to him. "It is time to go home."_

_"Coming mom!" He said jumping off the bottom step of the castle. He was far shorter than the woman, his head only coming up to he waist. He had to look up to see into her eyes. _

_"I told you not to keep running off like that." She said as she tapped his nose. "Better be careful young man."_

_"I will be!" He said reaching up to grab her hand. He quickly walked to keep up with her pace as she walked him away from the park. "Mommy?"_

"Henry?" Emma called snapping Henry out of his day dream.

He quickly shook his head and let go of the metal fork he had held tightly in his hand dropping it with a clank onto his plate.

"Did you just call me mommy?" Emma said with a laugh. "I haven't heard that one in years!"

"Shut up!" he said flinging a fork full of peas toward his mom.

"Hey! Eat your vegetable! Don't throw them!" She scolded picking up her empty plate and bringing it into the kitchen to be washed.

Henry grunted as he continued to push the few remaining fork fulls around on his plate. Who was that woman? It seemed so real, but it couldn't be. Emma was his mom, she had always been. And this woman, she seemed so real, her face so familiar, yet he didn't have any idea who she had been.

He pushed the last few mouth full of the green vegetable into his mouth with a scowl and brought his plate over to the pile of dirty dishes that Emma was loading into the dishwasher. He quickly walked out of the room and into his. "What's your rush?"

"I got lots of homework." he lied rushing into his room and shutting the door.

"I expect perfects on all of them!" Emma yelled to him as she continued to clean.

Henry lifted the quilt to see the book he had shoved under his bed. He flipped through the pages of it, one close to the back falling out with a picture of a woman in a long black gown with an evil grin on her face talking to a man in a jail cell. That was her. That was the woman he had saw! But why did he see her? He had never even seen these pictures before and this woman was clearly never his mom.

Confused he shoved the page back into the end of the book and shoved it back under his bed to where it was before. When things got weird, he thought it just best to pull out his iphone and to play some games, and now was one of those moments. He booted up one of his favorites and a happy go luck melody filled the room as he began to seen little cartoon birds flying across the screen. He never even saw the note that was attached to his package landing on the messy floor of his bedroom reveling four more words on the back;

'I love you Henry'

* * *

**A/N Such feels! This needed to be posted tonight. We all need a pick me up after tonight's episode!**

**Continue?**


	2. Golden Dust and Dreaming

**A/N So the story continues! This contains some flash back scenes which I wish I had the genius to write, but they belong to the writers. Sigh. Anyway, this is the last post of the year cause I will be traveling to celebrate Christmas with my family.**

**I hope ya'll have a happy holidays.**

**Please review.**

* * *

Regina waited patiently outside of the house of Emma Swan, hidden silently behind the corner. She watched as Emma shut the door and locked it. She glanced to her left and to her right before placing the key underneath the welcome mat in front of her door. "Really Swan, could you have picked a more obvious hiding place?" Regina whispered as Emma hustled down the hallway. From where she was standing, she could still hear the heel of her boots slam onto every step. When the echoing footsteps stopped, Regina moved from her hiding space.

She bent down and pulled back the flimsy mat and slid the golden key out from under it. She observed it carefully flipping it around so she could observe the groves. She slid it into the locked with a thunk and turned to lock open. She then placed the key back in it's previous location under the mat and went inside.

She shut the door carefully and looked around observing the things she remembered. Pictures of Henry she had taken all those years ago now hung on the walls. She noticed his favorite orange juice still lining the bottom of a glass that was left on the table. A stack of his comic books the exact same as the ones he had back in Stroybrooke down to the dog-eared pages were in a stack by the sofa.

A tear came to her eye as she outlined the image of baby Henry out by her apple tree. She remembered this picture used to sit on her desk in her office. She place the picture back down and brushed the thin layer of dust of the frame. She shook her head and took off her leather gloves.

She strutted across the living room and into the hallway she saw Henry's room. His bed still had the same blue checkered quilt she bought for him many years ago. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a vile of golden dust. She poured a small amount into the palm of her hand and sprinkled it over his pillow.

She quickly walked out and moved to the room across from Henry's. When she turned the knob of the door opened, but the door wouldn't budge. The old, browned door knob appeared to be locked. Regina reached into her hair and pulled out a bobby pin that held her bangs behind her ear. Carefully, she bent it so that it would fit into the round hole. Jiggling it around a bit, the latch clicked and the door swung open, gaining her access. She slid the pin back in her pocket and looked around.

Emma's room was cleaner than she had expected. Where she assumed would be piles of dirtied clothing was a well kept carpet, despite it's dated appearance, seemed to be well kept. Her bed was made nice enough, the covers neatly aligned with the edge of the mattress and pillow placed over top. Over all, Emma's room was bland. The brick walls of her room reminded her of Mary Margret's flat, and nothing hang on them. She only had one dresser, a bed, and a night stand in her room. On the back of her door hung the hideous red jacket of her's. How much Regina hated that jacket.

Regina walked over to Emma's bed and picked up her pillow. She held it close to her face and sniffed in the familiar scent of Emma. She did smell so nice.

Placing it back down on the bed, she also sprinkled a fair amount of bright gold dust onto the pillow.

"Don't worry Emma. This will help you remember."

* * *

_"Please don't take me back there!" Henry whined as she flicked open the latch of the black gate between two hedges. She continued to walk fast having Henry trail quickly behind her._

_"I have to. I'm sure your parents are worried sick about you." She stated continuing to speed down the path._

_Henry proceed to whine on. "I don't have parents; Just a mom, and she's evil!"_

_Emma turned her head quickly to the right to make eye contact. "Evil?" she questioned. "That's a bit extreme, isn't it?"_

_Henry's eyes cast down. "She is. She doesn't love me. She only pretends to."_

_"Kid," She says with a sigh while she moves down to be at eye level with him. "I'm sure that's not true."_

_In the distance she hear a door open. "Henry!" A voice called at the moment she made eye contact. It was that woman from yesterday. She was wearing a grey dress with a stylish pair of heals. She pushed her way out the door and ran down the path. "Her voice broke as she ran to him. "Oh, Henry!" She said as she wrapped her arms protectively around him. "Ohhh. Are you okay?" She unwrapped her arms and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Where have you been?!"_

_She let go of him and stood up straight. Emma had noticed the entire time that she had not taken her eyes off of the stunning brunet. She was just so pleasant to look at, she found herself starring. "What happened?" the woman said weakly._

_Henry began to run back inside. "I found my real mom!" He yelled, pushing past her and dashing inside of the large white house._

_She woman looked directly to Emma now. "Y-you're Henry's birth mother?"_

_"Hi." was the only words she could form at the moment as her eyes raked over the woman's worried face._

_"I'll just go and check on the lad. Make sure he's all right." The attractive man that she had not noticed until just now said as he turned and went inside.  
_

_Her full focus was on the woman now, who she now noticed her chocolate brown eyes study her. She felt a smile almost show on her lips as the woman spoke again. "How would you like the best glass of apple cider you have ever tasted?"_

_"Got anything stronger?_

There was a beeping noise, the other woman didn't seem to hear it, but she suddenly felt as if she was being lifted away. Green eyes shot open and looked directly into the ipad that was propped up on the night stand.

8:15

Time to wake up Henry.

* * *

_"It's time for your therapy session." The woman's voice spoke. _

_He lied very still keeping his focus on the rotating lamp. "I don't wanna go." he responded in a mono-toned voice._

_He felt the weight of the bed tip to the his left side. A hand was placed on his left leg. "Well I think it would be good to talk to some one." She said in response. "Common." He moved his legs over her and got out of his bed. "That's my boy." _

_He pushed the door out of the way to get his coat. While back there, his eyes scanned the many pictures tacked up on the wall. Some were of his favorite supper heroes. Some where drawings he never remembered making. It was all around unfamiliar. _

_The woman held up the book her had received on her lap. "I brought this for you. Maybe I was too harsh in taking it away." She held out the book for him to grab. "I'm sorry"_

_He took the book out of her hands and threw it back onto his bed. "I don't wan it anymore." he mumbled walking out. He make his way to a spiral stair case and hurried down them._

"Hey kid!" his mom's voice called followed by a splash of cold water. His eyes flew open and he shivered.

"Mom! That's not cool!" He yelled pulling back the quilt and running after her.

"That is the third time I woke you up, and I don't want you being late for school!" She said as she spread cream cheese onto a bagel and placed it onto the table next to a tall cup of orange juice. "Eat up kid!"

* * *

Emma tapped her pencil eraser on top of a stack of files that she had been assigned to fill out for that day. She loathed her job. Each day, same boring papers. She took a sip out of her holiday coffee mug savoring the sweet hot chocolate inside with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top. Her mind began to wander a bit.

She took a lick of the whipped cream she had placed into her mug off of her pointer finger and looked down on her files again.

_The print on the paper she was holding was small. She felt the cold air rush into the place where she was sitting as the bells of an opening door jangled and a person wearing heals walked it._

_"How was your walk with Henry?" That woman again._

_"Why are you constantly on my mind!" she though as she looked up._

_The woman moved out the chair across from where she was sitting and took a seat. "That's right, I know everything." She said with a breathy laugh. "But relax, I don't mind."_

_"You don't?"  
_

_"No." She said with a smirk. "Because you no longer worry me-"_

"Miss. Swan!" Her boss scolded from above. "I don't pay you to day dream! Get to work!" He said angrily writing down a few sentences on his charts before storming away.

"Who is that woman?"


	3. Meetings and Memories

**A/N I am so sorry this took so long to update. I took a vacation and I have been having some problems with fanfiction for the past few days. Sorry for all of the trouble.**

**Anyway, updates should become a little more frequent now that my scheduled is back to normal. Reviews mean updates will come up more often, so please feel free to write a review. Thanks!**

* * *

She was late for work. Yes this happened two out of every five days of the work week, but she still tried her hardest to run down the stairs fast enough to make up for the time she had wasted away by sleeping late. Dashing down the stairs of her apartment building she though she saw a firmiliar face. She saw a woman. The woman. Hair shoulder length. Black trench coat. A bit on the short side. They made eye contact briefly, her dark brown eyes seemed to bore through her head.

"Excuse me!" A voice called from behind. A man carrying a large box down the side walk bumped into her elbow.

"Hey! Watch where you are going!" She yelled to the man. She shook her head and looked back up the place where she had seen the woman. Of course, she was no longer there. "Shit." She mumbled going after where the woman was previously standing.

She reached out her arm to push people out of the way.

_She pushed open the door leading to the outside of the __restaurant she was in. She was running, running from or to someone, she had no idea. Maybe she was late. And then she saw her. Not much had changed for her accept for her outfit. Red blouse and a black blazer. Suited her quiet well. "Archie made a cake!"_

_'Who the hell is Archie?' She thought as her body moved down the last steps. _

_"You don't wanna stay for a piece?"_

_The woman smiled a bit and shook her head. "I'm fine thank you."_

_"Okay." She breathed turning to the right then turning to look back at her and then over her left to go back inside the restaurant._

_"Thank you." The woman's voice started._

_Her body turned around. "You just said that."_

_"For inviting me."_

_Her head nodded. "Henry wanted it." She felt a slight hesitation before she continued. "I'm glad you guys got to spend some time together."_

_"Me too." The woman's dark lips curved up into a wide smile, so genuine, she thought almost loving._

The woman's lips began to move again, but she didn't her the woman's voice. Instead she heard to voice of a man. "Emma!" she forced her heavy lids to spring open to see her neighbor looking down on her. "Emma are you alright?"

She forced her legs to stand up. "I-I'm fine." She looked around seeing people pushing to force their way around her. "What happened."

"You fell. Well actually, I think you passed out. You were out for a minute maybe two."

"Shit, I am going to be even more late!" She stammered before walking quickly while fishing for her car keys in her pocket. Her boot hit the uneven concrete side walk causing her to stumble forward.

He grabbed her arm pulling her back upright. "You can't go to work, you can barely stand." He smiled and grabbed her hand. "Come'on. Let's get you home."

She moved her shoulder upward removing her hand from his hold. "No. I am fine, I need to go to work."

"You can barely stand up straight on your own. There is no possible way you can work." Emma grunted placing her hand on her forehead, checking for a fever. "You can miss one day of work. Emma, you need to go home and rest."

Emma walked back toward her apartment building. "Fine then." She walked back into the building, the man following behind her. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Well..."

"Why are you following me?"

"I am sorry. I'll leave you alone."

* * *

She laid on the couch with TV remote in hand. There was no good shows on in the afternoon. Each channel change led her to have less hope.

She decided she was hungry and stop flipping the channels. As she got up out of her comfortable spot on the couch she put the remote into the large pocket on the front of her Boston Red Sox hoodie that she had changed into. She went out into the kitchen and took out a bowl of old pasta that had been in the refrigerator for a few days now. She lifted the lid slowly, 'looks okay to eat.' The microwave door was flung open and the bowl of pasta was dropped inside.

She placed her elbows on the counter and watched the television lazily from her spot in the kitchen. "Seriously, a court show." She reached into her pocket to change the channel, but was interrupted by the beeping of the microwave.

The bowl of pasta was very hot. She held it very carefully on the edge of the bowl to not burn her hands.

"_Mrs. Swan,"_

Emma's eyes flicked immediately to the television where she saw she that same woman, the woman from all her other visions sitting at what looked like a judges chair. She felt her hands go numb and she accidentally dropped the bowl on the ground.

"_This meeting is to discuss issues facing Storybrooke."_

Emma quickly reaching into her pocket and took out the remote quickly changing the channel. Food network? Whatever. She looked down to the ground where off white shards of what once was a bowl covered her kitchen floor along with the bright red stain of pasta sauce. Great. Just great. She ran her fingers though her hair and sighed.

She retrieved a broom and dust pan from the closet and began sweeping up the shards.

"_My famous turnovers."_

Emma's eyes snapped right to the television. "Not again."

She watched as the woman leaned down on the table. Emma fished in her pocket for the remote, but it wasn't there. "_Old recipe,"_ There was a loud snapping sound, "_but delicious." _Emma searched the red sauce covered floor until she reached up to the counters where she found the remote. She brought it down and stared back at the television. She hesitated for a moment to turn off the television.

That woman, the way she smiled, or pretended to smile. No. No, no this is not right. She turned off the television and sat down on the kitchen floor. "What the hell is wrong with me." After spending the next hour scrubbing the tilled floor with no luck of getting out the red stain, Emma gave up and looked for something else to eat in the refrigerator.

Egg carton, empty from this morning's pancakes. No left overs. There was two pieces of breed left, the end pieces. Yuck. She took the bag of bread and disposed of it. A Greek yogurt from when she went on that healthy phase. Greek yogurt was defiantly not what she wanted; way too sour. She felt her stomach rumble when she went into the pantry to grab a box of Lucky Charms, aka Henry's weekend breakfast. She reached into the bag and picked out a few of the brightly colored marshmallows that were on top and went back into the refrigerator to get some milk. Of course only a mouth full remained and the only other milk was strawberry, bout per Henry's request. "Why is there no food in this house!"

She pouted slumping down in the kitchen chair where she would sit to eat most of her meals. "Maybe I should call a doctor or something..." she said quietly as she picked out a few more marshmallows out of Henry's Lucky Charms. "These probably aren't helping me either way."

Crinkling the plastic bag, she rolled the bag up to keep the cereal from getting stale. She grabbed her coat out of the closet and slid her arms in the sleeves. "Maybe going out to get some food will help me clear my mind a little."

* * *

During the past year, she found herself sitting at the counter at Corner Coffee more than she had wished. She had reminded herself many times that such kinds of food would give her a heart attack and she was setting a bad example for Henry, but let's face it; Emma Swan had become lazy.

She pulled out her iphone and checked to see if she had gotten any new text messages, she hadn't, and a waitress came by and placed a mug of hot chocolate with a canister of cinnamon next to it. Emma looked up in surprise. "How did you..."

"You have been here often enough honey. Breakfast you prefer coffee with a Bear Claw. During the day you usually get Coco and ask for cinnamon along with a sandwich. Now which sandwich you would like, I need to know."

"Turkey Club. Hold the mayo please."

"Your order will be ready shortly."

Such a sweet lady, she almost reminded her of some one... but no face. She couldn't remember anyone like that. She shook the canister of cinnamon over top of the whipped cream.

She unwrapped the spoon from the napkin and stuck it inside the mug of hot chocolate. She stirred it slowly mixing the whip cream, cinnamon, and hot chocolate together evenly. She grabbed the cup slowly holding both hands on the mug to keep them warm. She slowly raise the mug to her lips and sipped a little bit of the liquid off of the top.

She drank it slowly so she wouldn't finish it too soon, occasionally taking her spoon and mixing the light whip cream which tended to float toward the top. Finally her sandwich arrived and she ate it slowly, listening to the song playing on the radio over head. She hummed along with the melody and looked around at the people at the restaurant.

In the corner booth was an elderly couple. Next to them was a man with a young looking boy who she assumed was his son. Behind then she saw... No! No! No more hallucinations.

She looked away quickly focusing back on her club sandwich. She looked back again to the booth. Still there. She hadn't moved. Nothing in the environment had changed. everything was the same. Could it really be her? Was it possible that the woman who she had been seeing these last few days? That the woman who had kissed her on her door step, what she would give to go back and ask her a few questions instead of slamming the door in her face, really be here in flesh and blood?

The waitress came over and took away her plate and mug. "Is there anything else you would like today ma'am?" she said with a smile holding her pencil and pad at the ready.

"Actually, yes there is."

There was a long pause. "And what might that be?"

"Do you see that woman over there?" Emma said pointing toward the booth where she saw the woman from her daydreams, or what ever they were, was sitting.

She still looked as distant as ever, her dark eyes focused on what looked like to be a rectangle of paper. She was quiet stunning as she sat, unblinking. Her dark brown eyes seemed to be almost teary. She wore the same black trench coat she did during their kiss. Her lips were not stained the same dark red she had grown accustomed to when she saw her, they were more of a neutral pink.

"Ma'am?" The waitress asked calling Emma from her daze.

"I am sorry?"

"I asked you what you meant?"

"Do you see her?"

The waitress shot her a confused look. "What kind of question is that?"

"Do see a woman, dark hair, kind of short, black trench coat, you know, sitting in that booth?"

"Well yes of course, is everything alright, honey?"

"Yes, everything is fine." the waitress stared at her oddly. "Can you bring the bill?"

"Uhhh, sure." the waitress said ripping the sheet out of her notepad. "I will be back in a few minutes."

She stared back to the booth where the woman was sitting. She seemed to have not moved, not even blinked. She picked up the spoon from her napkin and dipped it into the the cup that sat at her side. After string, she stuck the spoon in her mouth and then returning it back to its place on the napkin. She picked up the cup with one hand so elegantly.

"Ma'am?" the waitress handed her the bill.

"Sorry? Oh, yes thank you." she nodded taking the bill from her hand. She paid with cash, exact change down to the last penny and left a tip under her glass. Getting up from her chair and slid on her jacket. She walked up to the booth.

"Excuse me?"

She looked up and gasped when she realized who was sitting in front of her. "Emma..." she breathed.

"I have some questions for you." She sat down into the booth on the opposite side of the woman. "Who the hell are you?"


	4. Being Civil

"Who the hell are you?"

The woman sat across from Emma with a blank look on her face. Lifting her coffee cup, she brought it up steadily and set it back down never breaking eye contact

"Are you going to answer my question or not? There is a crap ton or explaining you need to do!"

The woman shook her head. "I really hope you don't speak such horrible language in front of Henry."

Emma pounded her fists on the table causing the woman to jump and a few heads in the dinner to turn. "I did not come here to talk about my son!" she stated in a raised voice. The people turned back to the food they were eating and the people they were talking to. Emma felt it okay to continue talking. "I need you to tell me why I have been seeing you. Everywhere I look, and there is a vision of you!" she said more quietly than before.

The expression on her face was of unquestioned puzzlement. "Me?"

Emma stood up and leaned on the table. "You still haven't answered my question. Who. Are. You. And don't lie. I can tell when people lie!"

"My name is Regina. Regina Mills."

Emma knew she wasn't lying, she the name familiar some how. It suited her nicely."And why do I keep seeing you?"

"I don't know." She said.

Emma smirked. "That's bull. You are lying. Tell me the damn truth Ms. Mills."

"Your skills of being a human lie detector has always amazed me Miss. Swan."

"How do you know my name?"

Regina leaned backing into the booth and kept her mouth shut.

"Answer the question!" Emma scowled.

"Excuse me." A different waitress tapped Emma on the shoulder. "My manager has asked me to tell you that your... conversation can not continue inside of our establishment. If you ladies would please take this outside-"

"We are civil. " Regina interrupted sternly.

"I beg to differ Ms. Mills."

"You two need to go. Now. Or we will call the authorities to escort you out."

Regina rolled her eyes and finished her cup of coffee and tucked the square of paper back into her jacket pocket. Emma stood up and followed close behind Regina as she walked outside.

Once outside, Emma followed close behind as Regina continued walking forward. She grabbed Regina's arm and she gasped. "You are coming with me!" Emma stated pulling her in the direction of her apartment building.

"Excuse me!" Regina pulled her arm out of Emma's grasp.

"No you owe me an explanation and I am not letting you out of my sight until I get one!"

"Then you will be following quite some time Miss. Swan! Don't you have better things to do with your time, like taking care of my son!" She yelled. She suddenly covered her mouth and watched as Emma stared in a look of confusion.

_"He is not your son he is mine! And after this you are not getting anywhere near him! Do it!" She yelled. There was a woman's grunt and suddenly a blue ball of light appeared. _

_'What the hell is this!?'_

_Regina caught it in her right hand and seemed to condense it into a tight ball. She squeezed it between her hands. "Do you really think that would work again?" Regina said quietly before turning to see a couple standing together. They also seemed so familiar. Thier names seemed as if on the tip of her tongue, yet she couldn't come up with it. She threw the ball at their feet creating a cloud of blue that almost hit them._

_Then she turned to Emma with a scowl on her face. "You." She said in a whisper. She could feel her anger dripping from her words. "You will not keep my son from me!" She flung her hands forward and she felt her whole world stir and she hit the ground in a painful slam._

"Emma?" She snapped her eyes open when she resisted a pair of hands holding her up. One supported her head and the other was on her arm. That woman.

Emma scrambled backwards. "Don't touch me!"

"Emma, you grabbed my arm a minute ago. What do you want?" Regina said with a slightly sad look on her face. She held out her hand in a fast manner the same motion that Regina had made in her go flying in her vision. Emma yelled and pulled away. "What on earth is wrong with you?"

Emma scrambled to her feet. Regina tried to help her up. "No! Stay away from me!" She began to walk but Regina followed. Emma saw her in her peripheral vision and whipped back around. "Didn't you want to get away from me a minute ago! Please!" Emma pleaded.

She watched as Emma turned back around and continued to walk. She sighed and turned around continuing back to her hotel room.

* * *

Regina hated this place; the hotel room she rented out for the past week. It was dirty, the bed was uncomfortable, and the people of this place were quite... unpleasant. It smelled like it had not been cleaned for the last few month. She missed her plush bed and home cooked meals. But it was her job to return Emma's memories.

She hoped that the kiss, what she had predicted would be so wonderful, might have returned her memories. She hoped that Emma had discovered feelings before the curse too, although a part of Regina knew that Emma would have never been able to see through "madam mayor" or "the evil queen". If their love was at one point mutual, then maybe, just maybe the kiss would have worked.

Of course it didn't.

No one could love the evil queen.

That is why she had teemed up with the Blue Fairy and Rumple (Oh how difficult it was to get the two of them to work together peacefully) to create the potion of remembering. Originally, Mary Margret was supposed to go, but since she had realized she was pregnant, that damn prince wouldn't let her do anything. Regina graciously volunteered to go in Mary Margret's place, saying she knew more of the outside world since she had to travel to Boston before to adopt Henry in the first place. Everyone agreed that she would be the best candidate and went through the portal they had created with the help of Anton and his magic beans.

But something was not right about the potion. The Blue Fairy had added some fairy dust to make it solid when it was complete, not like she didn't trust Blue, but other than that she had watched over every aspect of the potion. And with Regina, there were no errors. No mistakes. Everything was perfect.

So why was Emma remembering her?

She had expected Henry to be remembering her, but not Emma. Emma should be remembering Snow and Charming. Or that pirate. Or maybe even the man that abandon her all those years ago. Not her.

Regina laid back on the quilt on the bed and stared up at the ceiling going though the posses that they had gone through to make the potion. No where could she have seen a moment that would make Emma's mind to only show her memories of herself. 'By the looks of things, she probably remembered a time I used magic. No wonder she looked so terrified. Magic is a foreign concept of this world. Pure fantasy.'

Her mind wondered to her son. 'I wonder what he remembers?'

* * *

"_Henry!" A voice called from down the hall. "Henry where are you!" She called sing-songingly. He smiled and crawled backwards under his bed. __  
_

_He had found that he liked this place. The place he dreamed about was so nice. The woman he called mom was so kind and loving. Every time he was here, it seemed as if he had been here before. Certain things were the same; some of the comic books he saw lying around the room matched the ones in his collection. The quilt on his bed was the same that he had back home. His black coat and red and grey scarf hung on the back of the door. The book was here too. It was all just so realistic, as if it was a memory._

_He heard footsteps and the creak of the floor. "Henry, are you in here?"_

_He giggled a little and shimmied deeper under the bed. From his angle, he could see a pair of feet, toe nails painted with a clean coat of red nail polish, walk about the floor. The feet moved to the curtains and he saw the fabric ripple near the bottom. The feet walked away and he heard the high pitched skweek of what was probably a door in dire need of oiling. Then he suddenly saw a pair of brown eyes gaze under the wooden frame of the bed. "I got you!" She said with a big smile._

_Henry laughed and slid himself out the other side of the bed. "You got to catch me first mommy!" He said running out the door. He ran into the hallway and saw the woman follow behind closely. Suddenly he felt himself get taller._

_ The woman had picked him up in her arms and held him close. "You are getting to big for me my little prince."_

_"I am not little anymore. I am almost four." He said with much pride._

_"You will always be my little prince."_

"Mr. Swan? It is your turn to answer the next problem on the white board." The woman called him out of his sleep. "That is, once you get your cup of morning coffee."

The other students laughed and Henry sunk down in his chair in embarrassment. "I am sorry. I am trying to stay awake, I really am!"

"You have been falling asleep far too often in my class. I will be telling your mother about this."

He groaned and then sat back up, staring at the basic algebra problem that was printed on his paper. Math was the worst. But some where in his head, he could hear his fantasy mother's voice tell him, "_It most definitely will be fun if you tell yourself it is going to be boring. Think of it as a number puzzle. And I know how much you love to do puzzles._"

But she wasn't real. Or was she? He couldn't ask anyone of his friends since they had just moved to Boston about a year ago, and if he asked him mom, she might think he was crazy. No he would keep this to himself. There is no reason to tell anyone else. No reason to let them know. And he wanted it to stay that way.


	5. Searching for Answers

It was 2:52

And like all days, Henry was coming home from school.

He dashed up the stairs as fast as he could. Now on the third floor, he started on the last flight of stairs. Faster. Almost home. Have to beat Mom home from work. Half of the next flight of stairs. Need to delete that email from the teacher. Go faster. He almost tripped over his feet as he made it on his floor. He ran to the house and unlocked the door with their hid away key. Quickly tossing it away, he stumbled into the door.

"Hey kid."

'Crap. What is she doing home so early?' He thought closing the door slowly and and locking the bolt. "Hey mom. What's up? Why are you home so early." He put his backpack down by the table and causally went into the pantry to get a snack. He chose a pear and closed the door behind him. He sat down at her normal seat and took a bite out of the pear.

"I wasn't feeling well this morning, so I decided to call out of work now." She said walking over to him and sitting down in her seat at the table. "But I am feeling a little better now."

Emma was telling the truth. Almost an hour since her last visions. Thank goodness. Of course she hadn't left the apartment, turned on the tv, or even played games on her phone with fear of triggering another on of those visions. Of course that hadn't stopped her from checking her email. "But by what your teacher tells me, you haven't been feeling well either."

Henry grinned and took another bite from his pear. "Glad to here that you feel better."

His eyes widened and he lowered the pear from his mouth. "Oh, so you heard about that." He said quietly.

"Yeah she sent me a long email about it. Napping two days in a row in Pre Algebra. I know it is not one the most interesting of classes, but an important skill that you will use the rest of your life. One that you most certainly _can not sleep through._ You should not be sleeping at school at all. That is why you come here at night. To eat a good meal and to get some sleep." She declared.

"I am not trying to sleep in class!"

"Then what are you doing falling asleep? Have you not been sleeping here at home?"

"No I have."

"Then why?"

He waited a moment before thinking through his options. Emma would call him crazy if she knew the truth, that he would have visions of that woman when he slept. He didn't even mean to fall asleep, it would just happen, and then he felt as if he never wanted to wake up. So comforting, so soothing. Made him sound even more crazy. What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her."I don't have to tell you anything."

She cocked her head in surprise. "If this concerns your well being, as your mother, I have the right to know."

"But, I'm fine."

"Henry, you know I can tell when you are lying. And you, you are lying." She tried to say as lovingly as she could.

Henry's eyes instantly darted away from Emma's. "I have homework to do." He pushed his chair away from the table and got up. Emma grabbed Henry's arm.

"Wait Henry."

"I really have to-"

"Why have you been falling asleep in class?"

"I am just sleepy. That is all. Mrs. L is really dull and I guess I just drift off."

It was a lie. Emma knew that. But she knew that nothing would come of asking again. "Fine then. I will expect you to be in bed earlier at night now. I can't have you falling asleep in class any more."

Henry took a bite of his pear and chewed. "I guess so..." he wiped the juice on his pants and then grabbed for the tv remote.

Instantly, Emma had thought of the last time she had turned on the tv. "Henry!" The boy looked up with surprise, his thumb hovering over the power button. Emma swallowed hard and then continued. "Don't you have homework you should be doing?"

He set the remote down and took the last bite out of his pear and threw the core into the trash can. "Fine, I guess I will be off to do that then."

He took his bag and flung it over his shoulder. He looked back to Emma, she gave a reassuring smile, and he walked away into his room. Once there he discarded his bag onto his chair and ran to his bed. Out from under it he culled out the book with the golden writing on the cover and flipped through to the first few pages.

No title page. No copy right. Not even an author. The first page just help the words in plain script:

_Once Upon A Time_

_ There was an enchanted forest filled with all the classic characters we know._

_ Or think we know._

_ One day they found themselves trapped in a place where all their happy endings were stolen._

_ Our World._

_This is how it happened..._

The next few pages detailed the awakening of Snow White with true love's kiss from Prince Charming. He found himself smiling like an idiot down at the painted pages. Why was he smiling. He quickly tossed to book away. It was a children's book. Meant to sooth a four year old to sleep. Yet he found himself entranced by it. This was so childish!

He rubbed his temples and crawled over to the book. Open to a picture of the evil queen, he traced the outline of the illustration. She looked _so_ much like the woman in his dreams. What if it was her?

There is no proof that it couldn't be. Like she could be an evil queen. She was too nice. But maybe, she created the book? There was no author listed. Although he had no memory of her writing the book, she could have done it at times he didn't remember.

He looked around for the card that had been with the book but couldn't find it anywhere. The name on it was RM. RM is not a name. It was initials.

He walked over to his desk and opened up his laptop and opened a new tab. In the search bar she typed in names that start with R and clicked on the first website. Up came a list of names. Maybe one would jog his memory.

_Ra_

_Possibly means "sun" in Egyptian_

_Raakel_

_Finnish form of Rachel_

_Raanan_

_Means "fresh, invigorating" in Hebrew_

_Rab_

_Scottish short form of Robert_

_Rabab_

_From the Arabic word rababh, a musical instrument_

_Raban_

_From a Germanic byname derived from hraban meaning "raven"_

Who names there kids these names? How many more of these names to look through anyway? At the top of the page he read in italicized writing:

_There are 856 names matching your criteria._

856? I am going to be here for a while.

* * *

Emma knocked on Henry's door. "Can I come in?" His eyes widened and he placed his binder over to cover his Once Upon a Time book and opened up a paper he had written for English class.

"Yeah sure mom."

She opened the door and entered his room and walked over to his closet. "I just want to take your laundry. I am going to go to the basement and wash our clothes. I will be down there if you need me."

"Kay mom. Sounds good. I'll just finish up my homework." Emma grabbed the basket and dumped it into the basket that had some of her clothes in it.

She left the room and he reopened the website he was looking at. "This is pathetic. None of these names are normal." He skipped the rest of the first page and skipped straight to the second.

He skimmed through the first names when the one with the longest definition caught his eyes.

_Regina_

_Late Latin name meaning "queen"_

Queen. It all makes sense. Regina. That's the woman's name.

Regina.

* * *

Emma began throwing the laundry into the washing machine separating the dark and light clothes into separate machines. Towel, whites. Work shirt, colors. Henry's jeans. She pulled them up by one of the legs and something fell from the pocket. A card.

_Even the possibility of a happy ending is possible. Thank you for believing in me, Henry- RM_

RM? Regina! She had been communicating with Henry? No. What did he tell him? How long have they been talking.

She flipped it over.

_I love you Henry_

That is it. No more secrets. Henry is going to tell her exactly what is going on here.


End file.
